Tuesday 30 November 2010

Inspiring imagery of birds

I found all these prints and images very beautiful and inspiring, particularly the colours being so vibrant. I also really like the decorativeness and use of pattern.





The above image is really lovely, I particularly like the floral design and the composition. I am considering incorporating quite alot of feather designs and natural imagery to represent the nature of the story.



Sunday 21 November 2010

Ed Boxall

Ed Boxall is an Illustrator based in Hastings, he has done a series of printmade wonderful and charming books such as The bird watchers, The rooftop garden, The shell collector and others. Here a just a few of his handmade illustrations...



Cathy Cullis

What lovely little handmade delights Cathy Cullis creates! Her books are so delicate, so tiny, so precious. Her use of materials (embroidery, monoprint, fabric, paper) intrigues me as they are very tactile, this makes me want to touch the pages. This book 'Somehow' is only 5-6 cm in height.





Ideas for end pages

I would really like for the end pages of my book to just be purely decorative, a pretty pattern or design, no drawings or over crowded imagery, just something subtle as the contents will be busy and quite lively. The nebula images I previously uploaded have inspired these watercolour paintings by the colour, movement and space. Although the tones are much lighter and more dreamy I feel this works for what I am aiming to achieve and i quite like the effect...









Stuff, research and things!

After spending so much time on sketchbook work and finding my ideas I have now decided after speaking with Steve and David that I am going to make my entire book by hand. We agreed that it would be far more precious, delicate and special than it simply being whipped up through a computer programme. There is nothing wrong with this, but it seemed almost ridiculous to make each part of my book by hand then scan it into a computer to reconstruct it and in the process lose much of the handmade quality that is in my experiments. So, I have been working on this final for just over a week and i have very, very nearly completed it! I have been using a variety of mediums and materials, such as textured papers to add surface to make it more engaging, paint, drawings, photocopies, buttons, sewing, glitter and just about every other thing you can imagine, it is going to be difficult to make it not look too tacky, I think a certain amount of tackiness is required, only just a touch.






These images below are unfinished, but i thought i would upload various stages of my progress. I've been exploring paint marks and techniques as a way of finding interesting backgrounds, unfortunatley the bottom two images are on the same piece of paper so when using spray paint for the black blocks it trickled through on the reverse image which is annoying.





El Photoshop experimentos

 

Experimenting with handmaking different backgrounds and all imagery through hands on methods (drawing, collage, paint) then reconstructing in through photoshop. This would save me alot of time whilst working out the composition of each page, colours, etc. The top image is too simple and plain, I much prefer the Aquarius illustration below, I actually really like this image, the colours, and layout and pattern.


 

Aries experiments, I prefer the above type for its delicacy and how it seems to drift across the page, though i prefer the background of the below picture with the diamonds. I included these precious gems as the diamond is aries birthstone.


I quite like this background, it is simply paint and coloured pencils, i like the dreaminess and scaliness.



Exploring some layouts with type

Thursday 11 November 2010

More character sketches and ideas

 

Cancer girl - Could have an apron on and marigold washing up glove thingy majigs to show Cancerians love of home, family, cooking and nurturing.

Aries girl - Red hair portraying the fireyness of this sign, also red is one of Aries corresponding colours. Head tilted up to show big ego.
Virgo girl - Idea for virgo, use pastel, light colours to show purity and innocence as Virgo is the symbol of the virgin. Could have a halo above her head to also symbolise this purity, angelic.
 
Aquarius girl - Ideas, I like the idea of having her holding a big jug full of water with the water spilling over her body, this is the symbol of The Waterbearer.

Astrology Illustrations from magazines

Trevor Paul - pictures from Marie Claire

I think these two images are beautiful, I love how decorative they are and that his style is distinct and not too digital.






Sarah Hollander - Illustration of Capricorn from a series, this is adorable and charming. I love it!


OOH

                      Illustrated star sign purses, by French Bull

Friday 5 November 2010

Photoshop experiments



I imported some character designs which are my most preferred out of all the ones I have done and also scanned in different textured backgrounds into Photoshop to try and experiment with creating the final imagery for my book. I love using different surfaces together to get a sense of touch and to add interest. The Pisces image and the two Taurus images have not been digitally enhanced in any way, just constructed by using handmade images then recreating whole images through digital means. I feel like I do not want to lose the handmade quality of my work by going too digital as there is a possibility of losing some of the personal and whimsical quailities which I try to create. On the other hand, the image for Aquarius, the waterbearer, has been played with in ways i've never before explored and I really like the effect. It is like water pouring down upon the female which is a new found way of representing this sign.